Other Plain Groups

Many people mistakenly think that all those who look Amish are Amish. In fact, many plain-dressing groups have Anabaptist roots but are not Amish. There are numerous plain-dressing Mennonite groups, including some who use horse-and-buggy transportation and others who use cars, tractors, electricity, and other forms of modern technology in their homes, farms, and businesses. (For statistics and brief descriptions of Mennonite groups using horse-and-buggy transportation, see Old Order Mennonites tables.)

Various Old Order Brethren groups such as the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Old Brethren, and the Old Order River Brethren wear plain clothing and practice a traditional lifestyle. (For statistics and brief descriptions of Old Order Brethren groups, see Old Order Brethren tables.)

Like some of the Plain Mennonites, members of these groups also own cars and tractors and use electricity and other forms of modern technology in their homes, farms, and businesses. The men in some of these Brethren groups wear beards, which easily leads outsiders to confuse them with the Amish.

Most of these Plain groups forbid divorce and the ordination of women. They typically select lay men to lead their congregation. They do not use musical instruments in their worship services and seek to uphold traditional patterns of religious ritual. Most, but not all, of the plain groups worship in meetinghouses, but they are simple, modest buildings without steeples, stained glass, and ornate furnishings.

Unlike the more assimilated Anabaptist churches, the Plain groups emphasize separation from the world. Members are discouraged from owning televisions and radios, and sometimes are restricted in their use of the internet. The leaders of many of the groups also discourage higher education and involvement in worldly forms of leisure and mass culture.

Additional information

• Donald B. Kraybill and Carl Desportes Bowman, On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish and Brethren (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2001).

• Donald B. Kraybill and James Hurd, Horse-and-Buggy Mennonites: Hoofbeats of Humility in a Postmodern World (State College, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006).

• Stephen E. Scott, An Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups (Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 1996).